Telescopic flick knife

ABSTRACT

A hand held knife ejector having a power spring to eject the blade and a scroll spring for blade control and recapture. The blade is held in place against a compression power spring by a simple latching device. Upon release of the latching device, the power spring drives the blade outward. A scroll spring is connected to the blade to return it to a cocking position.

United States Patent 1191 Horak 1 1 TELESCOPIC FLICK KNIFE [76]Inventor: Hobbs H. Horak, 1632 Tucker Rd.,

Oxon Hill, Md. 20022 [22] Filed: Feb. 7, 1972 21 Appl. 190.. 224,368

[52] US. Cl. 30/162; 30/272; 46/145 [51] Int. Cl. B26B 1/08 [58] Fieldof Search 30/162; 46/145, 146, l R;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,504,073 8/1924 Moore30/162 1,828,812 9/1929 2,618,885 11/1952 Tigrett 46/145 2,854,74510/1958 Braverman 30/162 14 1 July 22,1975

3,158,099 11/1964 Dzvonik 102 374 3,456,376 7/1969 Chappell 43/63,494,284 2/1970 Gross 1 102/2 3,515,112 6/1970 Baginski... 124/19Primary Examiner-Robert F. Stahl Attorney, Agent, or Firm-R. S.Sciascia; T. Watson; W. Sivertson [57] ABSTRACT A hand held knifeejector having a power spring to eject the blade and a scroll spring forblade control and recapture. The blade is held in place against acompression power spring by a simple latching device. Upon release ofthe latching device, the power spring drives the blade outward. A scrollspring is connected to the blade to return it to a cocking position.

19 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures TELESCOPIC FLICK KNIFE STATEMENT OFGOVERNMENT INTEREST The invention described herein may be manufacturedand used by or for the Government of the United States of America forgovernmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon ortherefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally toknife blade ejectors and more particularly to a hand held device capableof ejecting and recapturing a knife blade.

Many devices have been developed which are capable of ejecting a knifeblade. spear. etc. Few of these devices, however. are capable ofretrieving the ejected implement for a quick redeployment. The presentinvention provides a device having this capability.

A casing small enough to be held in the hand, has positioned within it aknife blade or scalpel. A compression spring is used to eject the bladeout of the casing, and a simple trigger and latching mechanism holds thespring in a compressed state until deployment is desired. A scrollspring is attached to the blade and acts to both orient the blade in itsflight and to recapture the blade and return it such that recompressionof the power spring is easily effected.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is theprovision of a hand held weapon which may be effective at distancesbeyond arms length.

Another object is to provide a hand held weapon which may be usedrepeatedly as necessary.

Other objects, advantages. and novel features of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT FIG. 1, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, shows a casing 11 enclosing a knife blade 12. Theknife blade 12 has a cutting portion 13 and a rearwardly extendingportion 14. Attached to the knife blade extending portion 14 is a hooktype latch 16 which cooperates with a second hook type latch 17. Whenthese latches. 16 and 17. are connected as shown in FIG. 1, they operateto keep a power spring 19 compressed between a rear bulkhead 20 which isrigidly affixed to casing 11 and retaining pins 21. The retaining pins21 are connected between the knife blade extending portion 14 and theinner coil of a scroll spring 23.

The latching member 17 is formed on the end of a latching bar 25 whichextends through the bulkhead 20 to the rear of the casing 11 where itjoins and forms a unitary assembly with trigger bai- 27. A cocking fork28 extends from outside the casing 11 and partially surrounds anenlarged portion 29 of the trigger-latching bar assembly (see FIG. 3). Atension spring 31 is attached to the cocking fork 28 by means of members32 and the other end of the tension spring 31 is connected to thebulkhead 20 by means of similar attaching members 33. The attachingmembers 33 also maintain the compression spring 19 in position againstthe bulkhead 20. The outer coil of the scroll spring 23 is fixed at oneend to the bulkhead 20 by any suitable means.

The cocking fork 28 is pivotally connected at 35 about an extendingmember 36 which is rigidly attached to the casing 11 at the point 37.From the pivot point 35 the cocking fork 28 extends beyond the casing 11to pivotally connect with a cocking bar 39. The other end of the cockingbar 39 is pivotally connected with a cover latch 40. The cover latch 40is rigidly attached to the cover 41 such that movement of one causes acorresponding movement in the other. The

cover latch 40 and latching bar 26 are provided with latches 42 and 43generally similar in form and operation to the latches 16 and 17. Atrigger bar biasing spring 44 is used to hold the entire latchingassembly in the position shown in FIG. 1 until the trigger bar isdisplaced through pressure on the trigger 45.

In operation. beginning with the device configured as shown in FIG. 1(with the power spring 19 in compres' sion and the tension spring 31 intension), the trigger 45 is depressed against the biasing spring 44.This causes the latching bars 25 and 26 to move relative to theircooperating members and release the latching members 42 and 43. With therestraints on the cover latch 40 thus removed. the tension of the spring31. acting on the cocking fork 28 and through the cocking bar 39, causesthe cover latch 40 to pivot and spring open the cover 41.Simultaneously. the latches l6 and 17 will separate thus freeing theknife blade 12 for ejection by the compressing spring 19. This isaccomplished by the compression spring 19 acting upon the retaining pin21. As the knife blade 12 moves under the force of the compressionspring 19 the scroll spring 23 is caused to extend from its normallycylindrical configuration (as shown in FIG. 1). During the travel of theknife blade 12 the connection to the scroll spring keeps the blade andits point properly oriented in space. The connecting pins 21 aredesigned to wrap around the extending portion 14 (see FIG. 5) uponextension of the scroll spring 23.

Upon full extension of the scroll spring 23 (a distance of 6 feet. forexample) the spring will recoil itself and return the knife blade to theinside of the casing 11.

It should be further noted that upon actuation. movement of the cockingbar 39 rearward by the action of tension spring 31 also moves theunitary triggerlatching bar assembly 25, 26 and 27 in a forwarddirection. Tension spring 31 in effect pulls the lower portion ofcocking fork 28 forward. Cocking fork 28 is affixed to the unitarytrigger-latching assembly by pin 51. Thus. as bar 28 pivots about pin 35upon actuation of the device latching bars 25. 26 and 27 will moveforwardly. Upon return of the scroll spring the unitary trigger latchingbar assembly is oriented such that latch 17 may be pulled back to catchthe latch 16 and com press the power spring 19. This recocking actionmay be accomplished by merely closing cover 41. Further movement ofcover 41 will mate the latches 42 and 43 and complete the latchingoperation. A safety mechanism represented by pin 50 may be employed toprevent inadvertant actuation of the cocked device.

As an alternative design. the casing 11 can be formed as shown in FIG. 6to enclose the latching bar 39. Moreover, the knife may be replaced byan explosive. incendiary, poisonous or incapacitating device. Obviously,many other modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the presentinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

l. A hand held knife ejector which comprises:

a casing having an open end;

a power spring within said casing;

a knife blade within said casing adjacent said power spring;

latching means. including a cocking fork, cooperating with said knifeblade for placing and maintaining said power spring in compression;

a trigger and trigger bar operatively connected to said latching meansfor releasing the latching means such that the force of the power springejects the knife blade from the casing, the trigger bar forming aunitary member with the latching means;

a scroll spring connected to the knife blade for controlling its flightand for recapturing it for redeployment: and

a cover on the open end of the casing, the cover being connected to thelatching means and cocking fork such that manual closing of the coverplaces the power spring in compression.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the scroll spring is generallycylindrical, the power spring lying totally within the scroll spring andthe knife blade extending partially into the scroll spring.

3. An ejector comprising:

a casing having an open end:

an abutment mounted within and immovably affixed to said casing;

a scroll spring having one end affixed to said abutment;

a device attached to the other end of said scroll spring;

biasing means for ejecting said device from said casing when said deviceis in a first cocked position; first latching means connected to saiddevice; and second latching means cooperating with said first latchingmeans for cocking, holding and releasing said device from said firstcocked position.

4. The ejector of claim 3 wherein the scroll spring has an inner coiland an outer coil. and the outer coil is connected to the abutment andthe inner coil is connected to said device.

5. The ejector of claim 4 wherein said biasing means is a compressionspring having one of its ends connected to the abutment and its otherend acting upon said device when said device is in said first cockedposition.

6. The ejector of claim 5 wherein said compression spring is mountedwithin said scroll spring.

7. The ejector of claim 6 wherein said second latching means comprises:

a trigger bar;

a first latching bar having a first latch on one end for cooperatingwith said first latching means, the other end of said first latching barbeing connected to said trigger bar to form a unitary bar assembly, saidassembly being pivotally mounted within said casingqand means forcocking said assembly and thereby moving and holding said device in saidfirst cocked position.

8. The ejector of claim 7 wherein said cocking means comprises:

a cocking fork pivotally mounted within said casing and pivotallyconnected to said assembly;

a tension spring connected at oneof its ends to one of the ends of saidcocking fork, and the tension springs other end being connected to saidabutment for urging said cocking fork and thereby said assembly towardsaid first latching means;

a cocking bar having one end pivotally connected to the other end ofsaid cocking fork; and

means for moving said cocking barto move said fork and thereby saidassembly away from said device whereby the cooperation between saidfirst latching means and said first latch will move said device to saidfirst cocked position.

9. The ejector of claim 8 wherein said moving means comprises:

a cover pivotally connected to the open end of said casing;

a cover latch rigidly affixed to said cover. one end of said'cover latchbeing pivotally connected to the other end of said cocking bar; and. I

means for holding said cover closed when said device is in said firstcocked position.

10. The ejector of claim 9 wherein said holding means comprises:

a second latching bar having a second. latch on on end and connected atits other end to said unitary bar assembly;

a third latch on the other end of said cover latch cooperating with saidsecond latch on said second latching bar; and I means for urging thesecond and third latches into engagement when said cover is closed.

11. The ejector of claim 10 wherein the urging means comprises a biasingspring mounted between the abutment and the trigger bar.

12. The ejector of claim 11 wherein the device ejected includes anineapacitating element.

13. The ejector of claim 9 wherein the device includes a knife blade.

14. The ejector of claim 9 wherein flexible pins connect the device tothe inner coil of said scroll spring.

15. The ejector of claim 8 wherein said second latching means comprises:

a trigger bar:

a first latching bar having a first latch on one end for cooperatingwith said first latching means, the other end of said first latching barbeing connected to said trigger bar to form a unitary bar assembly, saidassembly being pivotally mounted within said casing; and

means for cocking said assembly and thereby moving and holding saiddevice in said first cocked position.

16. The ejector of claim wherein said cocking means comprises:

a cocking fork pivotally mounted within said casing and pivotallyconnected to said assembly;

a tension spring connected at one of its ends to one of the ends of saidcocking fork. and the tension springs other end being connected to saidabutment for urging said cocking fork and thereby said assembly towardsaid first latching means;

a cocking bar having one end pivotally connected to the other end ofsaid cocking fork; and

means for moving said cocking bar to move said fork and thereby saidassembly away from said device whereby the cooperation between saidfirst latching means and said first latch will move said device to saidfirst cocked position.

17. The ejector of claim 16 wherein said moving means comprises:

a cover pivotally connected to the open end of said casing;

a cover latch rigidly affixed to said cover, one end of said cover latchbeing pivotally connected to the other end of said cocking bar;

a second latching bar having a second latch on one end and connected atits other end to said unitary bar assembly;

a third latch on the other end of said cover latch cooperating with asecond latch on said second latching bar; and

a biasing spring mounted between the abutment and the trigger bar tourge said trigger bar and thereby said second latch into engagement withsaid third latch when said device is in said first cocked position.

18. The ejector of claim 17 further comprising a trigger connected tosaid trigger bar and extending out of said casing whereby depressingsaid trigger disengages the second and third latches.

19. The ejector of claim 18 wherein said device in-

1. A hand held knife ejector which comprises: a casing having an openend; a power spring within said casing; a knife blade within said casingadjacent said power spring; latching means, including a cocking fork,cooperating with said knife blade for placing and maintaining said powerspring in compression; a trigger and trigger bar operatively connectedto said latching means for releasing the latching means such that theforce of the power spring ejects the knife blade from the casing, thetrigger bar forming a unitary member with the latching means; a scrollspring connected to the knife blade for controlling its flight and forrecapturing it for redeployment; and a cover on the open end of thecasing, the cover being connected to the latching means and cocking forksuch that manual closing of the cover places the power spring incompression.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the scroll spring isgenerally cylindrical, the power spring lying totally within the scrollspring and the knife blade extending partially into the scroll spring.3. An ejector comprising: a casing having an open end; an abutmentmounted within and immovably affixed to said casing; a scroll springhaving one end affixed to said abutment; a device attached to the otherend of said scroll spring; biasing means for ejecting said device fromsaid casing when said device is in a first cocked position; firstlatching means connected to said device; and second latching meanscooperating with said first latching means for cocking, holding andreleasing said device from said first cocked position.
 4. The ejector ofclaim 3 wherein the scroll spring has an inner coil and an outer coil,and the outer coil is connected to the abutment and the inner coil isconnected to said device.
 5. The ejector of claim 4 wherein said biasingmeans is a compression spring having one of its ends connected to theabutment and its other end acting upon said device when said device isin said first cocked position.
 6. The ejector of claim 5 wherein saidcompression spring is mounted within said scroll spring.
 7. The ejectorof claim 6 wherein said second latching means comprises: a trigger bar;a first latching bar having a first latch on one end for cooperatingwith said first latching means, the other end of said first latching barbeing connected to said trigger bar to form a unitary bar assembly, saidassembly being pivotally mounted within said casing; and means forcocking said assembly and thereby moving and holding said device in saidfirst cocked position.
 8. The ejector of claim 7 wherein said cockingmeans comprises: a cocking fork pivotally mounted within said casing andpivotally connected to said assembly; a tension spring connected at oneof its ends to one of the ends of said cocking fork, and the tensionspring''s other end being connected to said abutment for urging saidcocking fork and thereby said assembly toward said first latching means;a cocking bar having one end pivotally connected to the other end ofsaid cocking fork; and means for moving said cocking bar to move saidfork and thereby said assembly away from said device whereby thecooperation between said first latching means and said first latch willmove said device to said first cocked position.
 9. The ejector of claim8 wherein said moving means comprises: a cover pivotally connected tothe open end of said casing; a cover latch rigidly affixed to saidcover, one end of said cover latch being pivotally connected to theothEr end of said cocking bar; and means for holding said cover closedwhen said device is in said first cocked position.
 10. The ejector ofclaim 9 wherein said holding means comprises: a second latching barhaving a second latch on one end and connected at its other end to saidunitary bar assembly; a third latch on the other end of said cover latchcooperating with said second latch on said second latching bar; andmeans for urging the second and third latches into engagement when saidcover is closed.
 11. The ejector of claim 10 wherein the urging meanscomprises a biasing spring mounted between the abutment and the triggerbar.
 12. The ejector of claim 11 wherein the device ejected includes anincapacitating element.
 13. The ejector of claim 9 wherein the deviceincludes a knife blade.
 14. The ejector of claim 9 wherein flexible pinsconnect the device to the inner coil of said scroll spring.
 15. Theejector of claim 8 wherein said second latching means comprises: atrigger bar; a first latching bar having a first latch on one end forcooperating with said first latching means, the other end of said firstlatching bar being connected to said trigger bar to form a unitary barassembly, said assembly being pivotally mounted within said casing; andmeans for cocking said assembly and thereby moving and holding saiddevice in said first cocked position.
 16. The ejector of claim 15wherein said cocking means comprises: a cocking fork pivotally mountedwithin said casing and pivotally connected to said assembly; a tensionspring connected at one of its ends to one of the ends of said cockingfork, and the tension spring''s other end being connected to saidabutment for urging said cocking fork and thereby said assembly towardsaid first latching means; a cocking bar having one end pivotallyconnected to the other end of said cocking fork; and means for movingsaid cocking bar to move said fork and thereby said assembly away fromsaid device whereby the cooperation between said first latching meansand said first latch will move said device to said first cockedposition.
 17. The ejector of claim 16 wherein said moving meanscomprises: a cover pivotally connected to the open end of said casing; acover latch rigidly affixed to said cover, one end of said cover latchbeing pivotally connected to the other end of said cocking bar; a secondlatching bar having a second latch on one end and connected at its otherend to said unitary bar assembly; a third latch on the other end of saidcover latch cooperating with a second latch on said second latching bar;and a biasing spring mounted between the abutment and the trigger bar tourge said trigger bar and thereby said second latch into engagement withsaid third latch when said device is in said first cocked position. 18.The ejector of claim 17 further comprising a trigger connected to saidtrigger bar and extending out of said casing whereby depressing saidtrigger disengages the second and third latches.
 19. The ejector ofclaim 18 wherein said device includes a knife blade.